Pearl and I had deliberately not drunk too much of the old vino last night as today we had to be responsible adults and drive us all around the island in our Ford Focus hire car. After breakfast and an inspection of the car to check for bumps, lumps and scrapes we set off. Pearl was fir
st up in the driving seat, Maice was navigating with Dianne and myself holding up the rear. We had agreed the night before to head to the beaches and coves to the south of the island but it seems that Maice's map reading skills were not the best, particularly as she was viewing it upside down, and without the help of SatNav Steve to tell her where to go, there was really no hope for us. So north it was!
Obviously, due to this sudden change of direction we had to discuss, within the confines of the car, where in the north we should head. As we were deliberating, we were suddenly flung forward in our seats when Pearl performed an emergency stop as she rounded a bend and was confronted with about fifty goats being herded on our side of the road. Thankfully our seat belts did what they were meant to do and no man, woman or goat was injured in the performing of this procedure.
The Monastery of St Dennis seemed an agreeable destination so with Maice's wayward map reading and Dianne and I interjecting from the rear we ended up not at the monastery of St Dennis as we had hoped but at the shipwreck we had visited on our boat trip. Fortunately we were viewing it from the top of the cliffs and had a birds eye view of the comings and goings to which we had been party to the day before. I must say we were totally blown away by the view and in particular the colour of the sea which was a beautiful turquoise. Absolutely stunning.
We set off again in search of St Dennis and his monastery, up and down steep windey roads, completely missed the turning and stumbled across a family of animated scarecrows sitting at a table outside a pottery having lunch. Honest to God, I kid you not. Naturally we had to stop to say 'hello' and then left.
St Dennis and his monastery seemed to have disappeared as we went round in circles looking for it, however, Maice was still in charge of navigating so it came as no surprise really. We eventually came across the monastery of St George and decided to stop, wander around, have coffee and make use of the facilities. I must say, we were pleasantly surprised, as this monastery was absolutely lovely, and a real treat.
At this point we changed drivers and I got behind the wheel. The only way was up.....and it was a very steep 'up'. Now let me tell you, that when you drive an automatic car like I do which does gear changes for you, doing hill starts in a manual car can be a bit daunting, especially when you have an audience. Fortunately, things got off to a smooth start and off we set to a place called Macherado, situated in the middle of the island where apparently there is a pottery and a winery nearby that we thought we'd visit. Relying on Maice, Pearl and Dianne for map reading was not the most productive as I was guided down a long and steep windey road to a harbour where the only way out was the way we'd come down. So a three point turn had to be made and a trip back up the steep mountain road to find our way to Macherado. I haven't a clue how we finally made it here but it certainly wasn't due to 'See No, Hear No and Speak No's' navigating skills. However, here we were and we parked up and found what was probably the brightest coloured cafe for lunch. This was a truly traditional village where we sat and watched the locals coming and going and saw the cutest dog with a bob tail.
After lunch, which was a simple affair it was back on the road again and off to the pottery and the winery. Imagine our disappointment when we arrived at both places and they were both closed. Not to worry, we did happen upon the cutest little blue church in amongst the vineyards. It was by now 3pm and we were desperate for a beach stop so we drove south and stopped off at Banana Baya beach where we took four sunbed's by the edge of the sea, ditched the bikini tops and swam, sunbathed and dozed for the next three hours. We decided to move when it became a bit chilly and the clouds started rolling in.
The Greek weather men have forecast storms for the next two days so we thought it best to head back. Pearl took over the driving and we decided that instead of going back straight away to shower and change and then go out to eat, we may as well find a taverna on the way back. Well, could we find one? No, we couldn't. So we decided to go back and find the Lemon Tree Taverna which is about twenty minutes walk from where we're staying and see if we could get in there. Luckily there was a free table and they didn't even mind that we had come in straight from the beach or that Pearl still had a 'soggy bottom' from her wet bikini bottoms. We enjoyed a really lovely meal, with Pearl narrowly being hit on the head by a free-falling lemon that just narrowly missed her.
Back at the apartments we showered, donned our pyjamas and met on Diane's balcony for a nightcap or two and to watch the storm which was just starting to make itself known. As we were surveying our surroundings we watched one of the new couples, who has just arrived that day, try and open what they thought was their room door but in fact they were trying to open someone else's. Finding this hilarious Maice and I made our way back to our room to batten down the hatches for what was going to be a very stormy night.
Overall we've had a great day, a real adventure, a good laugh and now we're tired. We can hear the thunder getting louder and the sheet lightning lighting up the sky. I think we're in for one humdinger of a storm. How exciting, we do love a Greek storm...............!
A,M,P,D xxxx